The Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, announced this Thursday that the Government is preparing a royal decree law to deal with the effects of the war in the Middle East. This includes fiscal measures to contain energy prices and specific aid for two of the sectors most affected by this crisis, which are the countryside and road transport.
After the meeting held this Thursday with the social agents, which was also attended by the three vice presidents and the Minister of Social Security and Government spokesperson (María Jesús Montero, Yolanda Díaz, Sara Aagesen and Elma Saiz, respectively), it has been learned that, for the moment, the Executive seems to rule out the bonus on fuel prices, as was done during the war in Ukraine, or the reduction in VAT on food, although they are still evaluating all the measures.
In this sense, Carlos Body has stated that both the sectors and the social agents with whom they have met have criticized the fuel bonus measure as ineffective. “It is one of the measures that is least recommended to us,” he assured, indicating that they prefer the application of measures “in the fiscal field.” Likewise, he has stated that they are going to act to “address the rise in fuel prices with special attention to sectors such as the countryside or road transport”, which are the most affected by the increase in diesel prices.
No exact approval date
The Minister of Economy, in the press conference after the meeting, has not confirmed an exact date for the approval of this royal decree, so it is not known if it will arrive in time for the Council of Ministers next Tuesday. “The priority is to close the text as quickly as possible, in the coming days so that it is prepared for approval,” is what Corps has stated.
Nor has he outlined the specific measures, although he has announced that there is “special attention” to the sectors most affected by the crisis, such as the countryside and road transport.
Unions advocate for “price containment” measures and rule out labor
The general secretaries of CCOO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, have expressed that, at the moment, they do not see an impact of the conflict in Iran on employment, so they do not foresee any measures in this area in the short or medium term. Likewise, he has assured that, if this is the case, the mechanisms are already contemplated in the law, such as the RED Mechanisms.
Both unions have reiterated that there are still no “concrete” measures but have defended that any measure that involves fiscal spending has to entail price containment for families.
“Any mobilization of public resources, any fiscal measure that is adopted to promote price containment has to serve that purpose, to promote price containment. It cannot be that measures are adopted that are not accompanied by no control of those prices because we have seen that if they do not simply serve to improve business margins,” Unai Sordo defended.
In the same terms, Pepe Álvarez has indicated that the actions must be “selective” and have a direct relationship with the sectors, with families and with people who see their economic capacity reduced.